A book written in the time span of 24 hours in the life of Clarissa Dalloway, who's preparing a dinner party at her house that evening. Because the story is being told from multiple perspectives, we get the storyline of not only Clarissa, but also of a man named Septimus and his wife Rezia. The two stories come together at a few points, but never quite connect.
"Septimus Warren Smith, aged about thirty, pale-faced, beak-nosed, wearing brown shoes and a shabby overcoat, with hazel eyes which had that look of apprehension which makes complete strangers apprehensive too" (14)
"Bond Street fascinated her; Bond street early in the morning in the season; its flags flying; its shops; no splash; no glitter; one roll of tweed in the shop where her father had bought his suits for fifty years; a few pearls; salmon on an iceblock" (11)
"The leaden circles dissolved in the air" (4) the image of smokestacks are a time signifier
"Then, just as happens on a terrace in the moon light, when one person begins to feel ashamed that he is already bored, and yet as the other sits silent, very quiet, sadly looking at the moon, does not like to speak, moves his foot, clears his throat, notices some iron scroll on a table leg, stirs a leaf, but say nothing- so Peter Walsh did now" (42)
I couldn't put this novel down and for a book written in 1925 it has a lot of surprisingly racy scenes. The descriptions are really what get you, Woolf is so descriptive and vivid, I love it!
-M
